Not even a month has gone by since Jezebel was shuttered by parent company G/O Media, and the female-forward publication seems to have been granted a second life.
Independent music and entertainment publisher Paste Magazine acquired Jezebel on Tuesday and has begun planning a resurrection as soon as Wednesday, according to Josh Jackson, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Paste.
The acquisition was an all-cash deal and Paste financed the purchase without raising any outside capital.
The New York Times first reported the news of Jezebel’s acquisition.
Paste plans to rehire many former Jezebel staffers – as many as it can afford. The next editor-in-chief for Jezebel has not yet been chosen.
In early November, G/O Media announced that it would be shuttering Jezebel after failing to find a buyer. The announcement was made in a memo to staff sent by CEO Jim Spanfeller who said it was a “very difficult decision.”
Spanfeller noted that G/O Media’s business model and audience did not align with Jezebel’s readership base.
In August, Jezebel editor-in-chief Laura Bassett exited the company over poor working conditions for editorial staff. But additional reporting showed that Basset’s decision to leave Jezebel was a result of a strained relationship with Spanfeller.
Bassett became the seventh editor-in-chief among G/O’s websites who has departed the company.
G/O Media has come under fire recently for repeated attempts to use AI-generated content on their various websites, as the company continues to undergo editorial staff layoffs.
